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Amy's Amazing White Chicken Chili

Amy's Amazing White Chicken Chili is perfect for the Superbowl, or any time you want a bowl of cheesy comforting chili! And this tasty chili recipe is low-glycemic, gluten-free and South Beach Diet friendly! Use the Recipes-by-Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

Superbowl Sunday is one of the biggest chili-eating days of the year, and if you haven't picked your chili recipe yet I promise that Amy's Amazing White Chicken Chili from my sister-in-law Amy is one of the best chilis I've eaten for a long time. If you don't make this for the Superbowl be sure you try it some other time, because this is a chili recipe you don't want to miss out on. In fact, when you hear the story about how I came to have the recipe, you'll see this is a chili recipe I was meant to have!

About 10 days ago I spotted a white chicken chili recipe in the newspaper, but when I read the recipe I realized there was chicken in the title, but no chicken listed in the ingredients. I saved the paper anyway, thinking I could figure it out, and then in that serendipitous way where the universe says "Hello, you need a recipe on the blog for white chicken chili," Amy showed up at my house that very day with a little pot of her white chicken chili and the recipe, which included chicken! The recipe from the newspaper was pretty similar to Amy's recipe too, so this is apparently a combination that quite a few people have liked.

(Amy's Amazing White Chicken Chili was first posted in February 2010; updated January 2012.)

Trim four boneless, skinless chicken breasts and then saute them in a small amount of vegetable or olive oil. (I let mine get a too brown, so don't make them quite this dark or the meat is hard to shred apart!) You can also make the recipe with 4-5 cups of leftover rotisserie chicken or even turkey if you have some.

While the chicken is cooking, brown a chopped onion in olive oil. After the onion cooks a few minutes, add minced garlic and cook a minute or so more.

Then add ground cumin, oregano, and a bit of cayenne pepper and cook for a couple minutes more.

Trim all visible fat and tendons from the chicken breasts, then heat 2 tsp. oil in a heavy non-stick pan, add chicken and saute until the chicken is cooked through and barely starting to brown. Remove from pan and let cool.

While chicken is cooking, heat the other 2 teaspoons of oil in a heavy soup pot, then saute onions until they're softened and just starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute about 1 minute more, then add the ground cumin, oregano, and ground cayenne pepper and saute a couple minutes more.

While the chili simmers, use your fingers or a fork to shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. (Don't cut, because cut chicken pieces will shred apart into strings in the chili when they cook.) After the chili has simmered for 30 minutes, add the chicken and simmer 10-15 minutes more.

If using cilantro, chop it while the chili simmers the last 10-15 minutes with the chicken added. Then add the chopped cilantro and simmer about 5 minutes more. Serve hot.

Serving Suggestions:

~Grated cheese is great for serving sprinkled on the chili (I used four cheese Mexican blend, which is a blend of low-fat cheeses)

~For non-dieters, you can sprinkle some crushed white tortilla chips over the chili before adding the cheese.

~I think the Cilantro, Lime, and Avocado Salsa that is part of my recipe for Black Bean and Beef Chili would also taste great on this.

This chili recipe with lean chicken, low-glycemic beans, and served with low-fat cheese (and no chips of course) would be a great main dish for any phase of the South Beach Diet or other low-glycemic eating plans. If you're making this for another type of low-carb diet you can use more chicken and less beans to make it lower in carbs.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan.

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I'm printing this one out and making it this week. The hubby loves chili of all kinds. Also, we're just about out of the big pot of red lentils with lime and cilantro I made. Kalyn your recipes are wonderful. Thank you.

I'm glad people are liking this, because it was so good! I fed some to a friend and she loved it too. And we do have a lot of very good cooks in our family.

Chau, I think the green Anaheim chiles are pretty important for the flavor here. I don't know where you live, but here I find them by the Mexican foods in most every store. If you can't find them, you could use a smaller amount of jalapeno chiles (much less!) or try making it with fresh poblano or anaheim chiles, but I wouldn't leave the chiles out completely.

Kalyn - Your timing is great! We were in the mood for chili yesterday so we made your Mexican Lentil soup/chili recipe - it was delicious! I added lean turkey sausage for my husband, but next time I'd leave it out - it kind of interfered with the wonderful lentil vibe. Thanks for all your fantastic recipes - I'll be making your low sugar cocktail sauce in just a few minutes...Sandy

This is almost identical to my White Chicken Chili recipe, but I put about 5 cups reduced sodium chicken stock in mine (instead of 4), and add Chipotle Chili powder (about 1 t) to the soup to give is a smokey spicy flavor. Haven't tried cilantro yet. Green chiles are definitely mandatory!

Also, try adding about 1 c. reduced fat sour cream to the soup at the end, but take some of the hot soup and liquify the sour cream first in a separate bowl so it doesn't curdle. It gives the soup a much creamer, richer flavor without a lot of added fat.

It's delicious - I make this every other week and eat it for lunch and dinner!

I enjoy white chili more so than a bowl of "red". This looks so very yummy. Thanks to You and Amy. Also a great extra is that it makes 6 servings, when there are only 1 or 2 to eat, it seems the leftovers never end on some recipes.

Hey Kalyn! I made your "spicy Asian wraps" with ground chicken, but I did not have enough lettuce...so I put the filling in the freezer. I have been wondering if I could incorporate that into some other kind of dish. I am thinking this may be just the thing to do!

Made this for dinner last night and it was SOOOO good! I didn't have 2 cans of beans on hand so I just added the one can and for a little something extra I added a 15oz. can of whole tomatoes (crushed them up a little) ... so it isn't quite 'white' chili but it tasted great! Thanks for the recipe.

OMG, this was sooo good. My hubby just re-stared South Beach and LOVED this! My Mom and girlfriend made it today, and they also LOVED it. Mom recently had a heart attack and is on a low-fat diet! She used ground turkey in hers.LOVE your blog, I'm always trying your fabulous recipes!

I made this tonight as I am still plugging away with the South Beach diet- though with your fantastic recipes I would hardly refer to it as "plugging away." :) The chili turned out to be fantastic! I was greedy and did not let it simmer for the total 45minutes and I think that might have slightly enhanced the flavor, but I can't complain as this way I am sitting here enjoying a bowl as I speak (type?).

Awesome! We had this tonight and it was wonderful! ;) I only had 2 chicken breasts thawed so that's all I used and didn't cut down on the rest because we like soupy soup. I was shocked that it still seemed like a ton of chicken to me. It was great!

This recipe is wonderful! I added extra red pepper (I am pregnant and am constantly craving spicy food!). The hubby is deployed right now but when i emailed him about this recipe he was VERY jealous that he couldn't have it! Looks like I will be making this again and again! Thanks so much!

Wow, just made this chili and it was amazing! Perfect blend of spices and I was surprised that this was so healthy! Thanks for a great recipe, my boyfriend and I loved it, and our chocolate lab enjoyed a little leftover chicken broth poured over his food. :)

I love white chili! This recipe looks wonderful. I usually melt some Monterrey Jack cheese in the chili to help thicken it, and the "magic ingredient" is 1/2 tsp of ground cloves, which sounds weird, but makes for a very special flavor. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes!

I made this for probably the 10th time yesterday. It's my absolute favorite! I realized I didn't have any broth but was determined to make it. Bouillon cubes? NO! I've read before that you shouldn't make broth with skinless boneless chicken breasts but I thought, what the heck. So I threw 3 breasts in a pot with the veggies, some salt and pepper and went for it. Later I wimped out a little and did add the chicken base flavoring. The chili was awesome. My favorite part though was the texture and juiciness of the chicken since they were boiled instead of sauteed. I'm definitely doing that again!!!!

I'm not familiar with Anaheim chills. Do you think plain green chilis would work, too? This looks like a great recipe. I have yet to find a white chili recipe that I love, so I will definitely be trying this one. Thanks, Amy and Kalyn!

I made this last night. I did not have canned green Anaheim chiles, so sauted fresh chopped poblano with the onion. I also threw in some chopped red bell peppers, just because it needed to be used up. I thought I had cilantro in the house, but did not. I adore how these flavors blended. I added a low fat mild cheddar, and it was the perfect finish. I love this recipe as a change from the same old, same old tomato based chili. My husband liked it, but said he'd only want it once in a while.

I've probably made this recipe 10 times since first discovering it on your site. It's a huge favorite with friends and family! I even had it planned for this weeks menu before even realizing you had posted it again. Anyone that hasn't tried this certainly should!!! P.S. I love your new heart veggies in hour header!

Made this tonight and it was delicious just as everyone has said. I told my 7 and 9 year old kids it was "chicken stew" (since anything with the word "chili" makes them skeptical) and they loved it too. Thanks so much!

This recipe was absolutely perfect!! The flavor, ingredients, consistency, everything was stunning! My boyfriend and I made it tonight and we were speechless at how good it was. I'm going to make it for my family this Sunday too. Also, we added corn, I think it made it even better :)

Hi, this is the 1st recipe I have tried from your website that did not please a single person in the family. It felt more like a soup. I suggest to those who like spice triple the cayenne and use hotter chopped peppers. BTW I use some recipes I've found here ALL the time.

Frustrated Momma, you can see from the comments above that there have been a lot of people who liked it, so I'm sorry it was not a hit with your family. Glad to know you have enjoyed some of the other recipes though.

Lindsey, My husband made this in a crockpot and it turned out really well. He just put everything in the crockpot without browning or anything (we tend to be lazy cooks). He left the chicken in large pieces during cooking and we shredded them in our bowls. He prepared everything the night before, pulled it from the fridge, set it up to cook on high for 4hr before shifting to low for the rest of the day (~6hr). Initially we thought it was watery for chili, but once we shredded the chicken it worked beautifully. He was skeptical when I initially suggested the recipe, but is a convert. This will be part of our regular winter soup rotation!

Still LOVING this recipe! I've had it in my recipe log for about two years now (since you first pointed it out to me) and we make it frequently! Just wanted to tell you again how much we appreciate you sharing your amazing recipes with the www:-)

This white chicken chili is, indeed, amazing. I made it for dinner last night and everyone went nuts over it. I brought the rest for lunch and just finished it. I had to jump online and post a rave review. This was easy and came together pretty quick. The flavors are out of this world...especially topped with cilantro and jack cheese while it's hot so the cheese gets nice and melty. I can't say enough about this delicious chili! I love that it's a little like a soup and not super thick. It's just filling enough to be satisfying, but not cloying, like some chili's. I could eat this a few times a week and never get bored with it! It's a MUST try! Thank you so much for sharing! :-)

This is one of my favorite recipes! I'm trying something new with it today. I just put everything in the crockpot uncooked/not sautéed. I know that the browning/sautéing add more flavor, but I wanted something really simple today. We shall see if it turns out good later this afternoon.

I made this last night with leftover turkey and it was the best white chili I've made so far. I did need a little salt and some more spices (garlic and cumin). I used dried beans that I cooked in the crockpot, which may be why I needed the salt.

I am starting Phase 1 again and I have made this before and loved it! I was just curious how it fits in Phase 1 with all the carbs in the beans. Is it just minimal because you are only supposed to have 1/2 a cup?

Megan, you're right that beans are a limited food for Phase One. But because this chile has chicken and other ingredients, you aren't eating only beans when you have an average size serving of it. I wouldn't overdo it; I'd eat a small bowl of this with something like a green salad for Phase one.

Kaylyn, my husband and I are on Phase 1 this year, and via Google, I found your site. What a blessing! Made the white chicken chili today and it is fantastic! Please don't stop posting. You are giving people so much more variety in the SB diet. Thank you!

I made this last night for a second time, but I was feeling under the weather and wanted to take a short cut. Instead of chicken, I used ground turkey and cooked it with the onions and oil. I also switched out one can of northerns for black beans (just for fun). Still turned out great and allowed me to sit and relax while it simmered away. Thank you Kayln!

I made this last winter and LOVED it!!! It was amazing. I've been waiting for it to get cool out to make it again, and this weekend I thought what the heck, it doesn't have to be fall/winter to make this! I'm making it today, just absolutely love this recipe. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Hello sorry I'm so late to the party on this. As a novice, are onion flakes the same as dried minced onions? 1/4 cup seems like a lot. I want to make this but just checking to make sure i understood. Looks great, thanks!

This recipe is delicious. We made it this weekend for friends and they loved it, too. We made it easier on ourselves by using the white meat from two rotisserie chickens and increased the quantity of spices, beans and broth so there would be plenty. I took your suggestion of serving it with your cilantro, lime and avocado salsa along with grated cheese and thin white tortilla chips. This was at least the third time I've made it and it's always soooo good. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

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